Not Dead Yet

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been interesting! Here's a shortened version because I'm the worst at weeklies.
So this week we had zone conference! So crazy that it was President and Sister Lam's last. So grateful for them. Anyways, conference was mostly just a huge training on how to use the area book on our phones. I can see how useful and what a big blessing it will be, but it's going to be a rough transition from our paper books to our digital ones. Our poor office elders are finding endless bugs in the system, poor guys. It will be good to use though, and we're all excited about it.
The other really fun thing from this week was that our whole apartment all got sick together! It was kind of miserable, but it would have been way more miserable if we'd all gotten sick one at a time, so we're counting our blessings. We haven't eaten anything except for chicken broth and crackers in four days, which has been pretty fun. This has also led us to be pretty weak, so Sister Briggs and I have almost passed out a few times from trying to go out and visit people and go to church and stuff. President and Sister Lam have recommended that we take it easy, but staying in the apartment is kind of boring. We try to compromise.
Today is a public holiday: the Dragon Boat Festival! Not going to lie, I'm not really sure what this entails, but it sounds cool and the posters of the dragon boat races all look really cool (although all the races happen on not-p-days in not-our-area, which is a bummer). We're celebrating by going to party with our Lion Rock pals at Ikea. :)
All in all, life is good! We're staying positive and we're excited to get back to work, haha. God is good and He's watching out for each of us, don't you even doubt it.
Love you all! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
1. My West Point girls
2. Sick selfie (Sister Briggs is wearing an ice mask (a very nice commodity for HK summers), don't worry about her)
3. Elevator selfie
4. Rest-on-your-bed-so-you-don't-die selfie

This Weeeeek

Leihdeih hou!
Sorry I never have exciting email subjects. Accepting suggestions.
Anyways. This week was good!
This week I tried white chocolate with pop rocks mixed in! This was a magical experience. At that very same meal, I also tried pig ears for the first time. This was a less magical experience.
Last week for p-day Sister Briggs and the West Point sisters met up with Sister Risenmay and Sister Gaillard (my last comps) for lunch at a slightly sketchy Indian buffet! Good food with good friends, what more could you ask for for a good p-day?
We also had our first typhoon of the season this past week! Lots and lots of rain, but it was only a Level 3, so life continued as usual.
This week we also met with our cute investigator Jacky! I've been reading lots of church talks (seriously, LDS Library is amazing) about the responsibility we have in teaching little children and raising them up with good values, and I've definitely seen that in action with Jacky. I swear, something in my heart explodes every time we visit Jacky and he looks at us (in between throwing various things at us, he is an eight-year-old after all) and says that he knows Jesus loves him. I wish everyone else could know that too.
This week we also had MLC! We were talking a lot about obedience (always a popular topic) and about having a more positive attitude about life and the work (because oh man is serving a mission in Hong Kong (and serving a mission in general) hard, but if that's all you focus on, that's all you'll ever get out of it), and we talked a bit about Abraham and Isaac. Abraham wanted his whole life to have a son, and he finally got Isaac, and then God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. That seems like a really hard, really tough commandment, but it proved Abraham's obedience, and in the end God provided and Isaac was saved (this is President Lam's favorite story about obedience because Isaac was old enough to choose and he needed to be obedient too). Anyways, one of the missionaries asked if we thought that God knew that Abraham would obey, and of course He knew. God knows everything. The question here is not if God knew, but if Abraham knew. That's true in our lives as well. Sometimes things are really really hard, but God already knows how you'll handle it. Sometimes, He wants YOU to know how you'll handle it. To quote President Lam, "God knows you. He's placed you here because He wants you to know what you're made of." So yeah, life is hard, and I'm not going to lie, being a missionary is hard too. But I'm learning so much about myself, and I'm doing things I never even believed I'd be able to do. And you all can too! If you're having a hard time, take a second to ask God what He wants to to learn about yourself (and about Him, and about the Savior, and about life) from this trial. If you're humble and willing, you'll learn a lot, guaranteed.
I love you all! Thanks for all the support. Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
The apartment squad
Indian foooood
The pals
We are the granola queens.
We got caught in the typhoon for, I kid you not, twenty seconds and were completely soaked through.
Trying pig ear! No tears here!

Smartphones are the Best

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good!
Last week for p-day the sisters from my MTC group went to Cheung Chau (aka my favorite place in HK) to celebrate our one year mark! It was so fun to catch up on our lives and hear how everyone has changed in the past 10 months since we were all in the MTC together. Lots of laughing and story-telling and... sweating. Summer is here, folks. I'm not ready.
Other than that, nothing too crazy has happened this week. We taught cute little Jacky Chan again. He's been to primary a couple of times now, so when we asked him about Jesus he said that he knows that Jesus loves him and that Jesus loves the little kids, so that's definitely some progress! It's so fun to see even the testimonies of little kids growing. I love this work.
In other news, God is really furthering His work here. Since getting our smartphones, the work has been going so much faster. Like, we're no Philippines or Brazil yet, but we may be getting there! Maybe? Anyways, everyone and their dog in Hong Kong uses this texting app called What'sApp, so when you try to call them or text them normally (aka our only options when we had Nokias), it was really really hard to contact people. However, since getting What'sApp, we've made sure to spend some time every day just going through our formers, potentials, and less-active records and What'sApping them, and we've been able to reach so many more people than we ever have before. It's amazing and such a blessing.
So I guess that's my testimony for this week. God is in charge. We got these smartphones at just the right time, and if we always rely on the Lord as much as our mission leaders do, everything else that happens in our lives will happen at just the right time too. Isn't that a comforting thing to know?
Love you all. Thanks for all the love and support, I'm so grateful for each of you! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
1. Our whole mission with Elder Gong a couple of weeks ago. I love these people.
2. When a band you love is coming to RIGHT BY YOU but it's okay because you love God more
3. MTC pals (sorry @Sis Mak who is stranded in Macau)
4. Us and Jacky! Note Grandma Fu in the background. She's really sweet and always forces fruit on us and also most of the time she just mumbles things in another dialect of Chinese so we mostly just nod and smile.
5. A combined Pok Fu Lam and Aberdeen FHE. I LOVE EVERYONE.
6. More fun at Cheung Chau

Another Week, Another Apostle :)

Leihdeih hou!
So for starters, last week Elder Bednar came to Hong Kong, but the missionaries didn't get a chance to meet with him (he was on a tight schedule), but we DID get the chance to meet with Elder Gong this past Thursday! Hong Kong is getting a lot of attention from the General Authorities lately and the missionaries are definitely not complaining. Elder Gong and his wife are so sweet! Elder Gong spoke to us a lot about loving your companions and making them your eternal friends, which I loved. No problems here because I've really been blessed with stellar companions my whole mission and I am so grateful for each of them.
Elder Gong meeting with the missionaries was also really special because it happened to fall on my ONE YEAR mark! ONE YEAR on the mission! It kind of blows my mind because on the one hand, I feel like I've lived in Hong Kong my whole life, and on the other hand, I feel like I just got here and still don't really know what I'm doing, haha. Regardless, 6 months left sounds like WAY too short of a time and I'm planning on living them out the very best I can. :)
We also had zone conference this week! It was mostly just training on our new smartphones and finding new ways to utilize them. I feel like I could better utilize them if I knew characters, but that's a work in progress. Really though, I'm so grateful for them already and we don't even have data yet! Smartphones were clearly an inspired move and I'm excited to see how the work moves forward with them.
Anyways, I'm doing well. The church is so true and I feel so blessed to be able to be in Hong Kong trying to share it. The work is hard but it's oh so good!
Love you all! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. MTC reunion at Elder Gong's meeting (minus Elder Bagley who booked it out before we could catch him)
2. My beautiful Sister Low :)
3. Sister Briggs and I and Sister Lee, a sweet old lady in our ward. Have I mentioned yet how much I love each of my comps?

This Weeeek

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good! Busy, hot, but good. I don't have much time (again. I am so sorry), so here's a lame summary of what's going on:
1. We got smartphones! I was a little nervous about this new development but it's already so obvious how much they will bless the work. Also having Pleco (a Chinese dictionary app) is an actual lifesaver and studies have gotten so much better. Hallelujah.
2. Sister Lee flew back to Korea! We were only together for a few short weeks, but I learned so much from here while she was here and I'm so grateful for the time that we had.
3. My new companion is Sister Briggs from Utah! She was one of my very best friends back in Lion Rock (no one believes we're actually comps and I kind of keep expecting here to disappear when I turn around), so I'm of course expecting this transfer to be a party and a half.
4. We got a new investigator named Wing! He is seriously the coolest person in the world and I love getting to meet with him. He has a ton of really good sincere questions, and so much interest. The best.
5. I don't know why I've never mentioned this before, but the word for "children" in Cantonese directly translates to "small friend" and I think that's important for everyone to know.
The work is good. It's hard, but it's good. God is real, Jesus loves you, and the church is true. Have a good week everyone. :)
Gayauh!
Sister Wasden

郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Saying goodbye to Sister Lee (yes I did feel 8 feet tall the whole time we were together)
2. Artsy picture of a ding-ding, taken from a ding-ding. Sister Kayla Wasden. Cell phone, digital. 2018.
3. Sister Briggs (on a ding-ding again. I love those things)
4. The view from a member's window

I LOVE MY MOM

Leihdeih hou!
Okay, so I know I say this a lot, but this is going to be the worst weekly ever. So sorry.
This week has been so busy that looking back on it, I can't really remember anything that happened. It's all a blur. A blur of wonderful people and oh so much food. Since Sister Lee is heading home this week, we've eaten with members every single day, and sometimes twice in a day, which has been crazy (I'm used to member meals maybe once a week). It's been so fun though and has been such a great chance for me to get to know the ward better before I take over the area on Thursday. This area seriously has such sweet members and I love them all so much.
I think I also went on exchanges this week but maybe that was last week? No, I think it was this week. Whenever it was, it was pretty fun.
Yesterday was Sister Lee's last Sunday in the ward, so we had a nice ward-wide photoshoot. Some pictures attached. The members here really love the missionaries and it's definitely reciprocated, trust me.
The best part of my week: I Skyped my mom (and the rest of my family) this morning! Moms are pretty much the best thing ever and I'm so grateful for mine. Everyone take a second to be grateful for your mom. Happy Mothers' Day, folks.
I know I also say this a lot but I don't think I'll ever be able to say it enough: I love Hong Kong! Also missions are great. Also my mom is the best. And the church is true. That's all.
Love you all! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pictures:
Some members. I am so tall here.
One of our favorite members works at a Japanese restaurant. This makes for a wonderful cheng out.
I've never been so tired. This is starting to become a nightly ritual.
My apartment pals :)
This lady in our ward has cute twins and they are 100% accessories. They get passed around for photo ops every single week, hahaha. Here's one of them with some of our other members.
​​Brother Si (our ward Bible expert) and A-Him (our stellar ward mission leader)

I Love the Bible

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good! We've had lots of lessons and member visits and it's been so good. Something I really love about this area is how involved the members are with the missionaries and with the work. They keep us really busy and I love it! One such member visit was with Si Hingdaih (Brother). Si Hingdaih meets us about once a week to do comp/language study with us, and it's pretty much my favorite part of the week because he's a Bible expert and he just tells us deep doctrines from the Bible (and how they're confirmed in the Book of Mormon), which is fun because 1. I love deep doctrine and 2. I really love the Bible (and the Book of Mormon. And D&C. And actually just all the scriptures?). It's a big challenge: when I don't understand what he's teaching us about the Bible, I have to fill in the gaps with my (limited) knowledge of Cantonese, and when I don't understand his Cantonese, I have to try to connect the dots with my (also pretty limited) Bible knowledge. It's mentally exhausting but SO FUN.
We also had a really good lesson with one of our investigators named Mr. Jeung. It was really cool to meet him and see how much the gospel means to him. He has a really hard family life (because he's raising a teenager and a 3-year-old by himself) and it was really awesome to watch him as he learned how Christ can help him. He already has such a testimony that this church is true and I'm so excited to keep working with him.
Yesterday we had a really cool meeting! It was a multi-stake conference with all 6 stakes in Hong Kong, as well as all of Taiwan. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake City especially for this area (President Nelson said that he was inspired to put it together after visiting Hong Kong a few weeks ago), and Elder Neil L. Andersen, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, and Bishop W. Christopher Waddell all spoke to us. I was listening to the already translated version, and my Canto isn't THAT good yet, but from what I could understand, it was a lot about ministering and studying the scriptures. Kind of like a mini general conference, just for Hong Kong and Taiwan. :) Between Elder Stevenson visiting two months ago, President Nelson and Elder Holland visiting a few weeks ago, Elder Andersen being broadcast in yesterday, and Elder Bednar visiting Hong Kong in just a couple weeks, the work is really picking up here in Hong Kong, we can feel it! Exciting stuff!
Also I'd just like to announce to everyone that this is my first time being the American minority in my apartment and I'm loving it. I've been informed that I have an Australian sense of humor, I eat delicious Korean food all the time, and last week my life was changed by Australian Sipahh straws (Google 'em). Life is good.
Life is good and God is good. I'm so grateful for my mission and for the person that it's made me, and I'm glad that I get to keep working and keep changing and keep improving (and hopefully keep learning Cantonese, haha. Lots to learn). Keep praying and reading your scriptures--God is there and He's listening. Also give your local missionaries some love for me. :)
Love you all so much! Thanks for all the support. Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Burritos make us happy.
2. So we all decided that we wanted Mexican food (basically non-existent here), so this week my apartment splurged a little bit and made some homemade Cafe Rio! Pork barbocoa burritos, complete with REAL cheese (I haven't owned real cheese since coming to Hong Kong. Dairy is crazy expensive here) and horchata on the side. So. Good. Worth every penny.
3. The Bank of China tower, on our way back from district meeting.
4. Chilling on the beach :)